cannabisnews.com: Legal Marijuana Doing What Drug War Couldn’t
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Legal Marijuana Doing What Drug War Couldn’t
Posted by CN Staff on March 03, 2016 at 11:42:17 PT
By Christopher Ingraham
Source: Washington Post 
USA -- Legal marijuana may be doing at least one thing that a decades-long drug war couldn't: taking a bite out of Mexican drug cartels' profits.The latest data from the U.S. Border Patrol shows that last year, marijuana seizures along the southwest border tumbled to their lowest level in at least a decade. Agents snagged roughly 1.5 million pounds of marijuana at the border, down from a peak of nearly 4 million pounds in 2009.
The data supports the many stories about the difficulties marijuana growers in Mexico face in light of increased competition from the north. As domestic marijuana production has ramped up in places such as California, Colorado and Washington, marijuana prices have fallen, especially at the bulk level."Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90," a Mexican marijuana grower told NPR news in December 2014. "But now they're paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It's a big difference. If the U.S. continues to legalize pot, they'll run us into the ground."And it's not just price — Mexican growers are facing pressure on quality, too. "The quality of marijuana produced in Mexico and the Caribbean is thought to be inferior to the marijuana produced domestically in the United States or in Canada," the DEA wrote last year in its 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment. "Law enforcement reporting indicates that Mexican cartels are attempting to produce higher-quality marijuana to keep up with U.S. demand."If the decline in border seizures is any indication, however, it appears that Mexican growers are having difficulty competing with domestic production. Some federal authorities are beginning to believe this is the case. Noting the decline in border seizures, Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told a Senate committee last year that "given the increase in marijuana use among the American population, this suggests that people using marijuana in the United States may be increasingly obtaining marijuana from domestic sources."Experts caution, however, that the recreational marijuana market in places such as Colorado and Washington, is likely having a smaller impact than the much larger and older medical marijuana market in many states, primarily California."Those trying to understand what has happened with U.S. cannabis consumption and imports over the past decade need to pay close attention to licensed and unlicensed production in medical states, especially California," Beau Kilmer of the RAND Corporation said in an email.California remains the country's leader in the illicit production of marijuana, as well as marijuana grown legally under the state's medical marijuana regime. A good barometer of this is the DEA's data on marijuana eradication, which indicates where law enforcement officers discover and destroy marijuana crops. In 2014, California accounted for more than 60 percent of all marijuana plants seized in the United States. Given those numbers, "it’s still too soon for production in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska to be a bigger story than California," said Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie-Mellon drug policy expert, in an email.Still, there's no question that drug production south of the border is changing. The DEA has even found evidence that the flow of illegal marijuana is starting to reverse, with some cases of U.S. marijuana being smuggled into Mexico.The cartels, of course, are adapting to the new reality. Seizure data appears to indicate that with marijuana profits tumbling, they're switching over to heroin and meth.Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Christopher IngrahamPublished: March 3, 2016Copyright: 2016 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/f0zroubLCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on March 05, 2016 at 05:09:31 PT
More about California...
California's situation seems like a mess. They have so many regulations with many different changes, from different groups etc. that it's mind boggling.The following news article alone is just too much bs and is an example how way too much rules etc. amount to noise and clutter and only makes what should be easy, a very complex nightmare."During the first year of enforcement in 2015, county staff issued 894 citations and saw to eradication of 34,556 plants. The county said its enforcement costs were $375,996, which was 57 percent of what was budgeted. The county collected $171,175 in fines, which was just 6 percent of the $2.93 million total fines issued." US CA: BUTTE COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO CONSIDER CHALLENGE TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULE CHANGEShttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n127/a04.html?397---The article also helps explain how so much more California pot is eradicated.---"There have been mixed results in past elections over medical marijuana. In June 2012, 55 percent of 50,423 voters rejected county rules banning cultivation on lots smaller than a half-acre. In November 2014, 60 percent of 60,821 voters approved the rules that remain in effect today as Measure A. The current rules generally set growing dimensions based on lot size, ranging from 50 square-feet for lots between a half-acre and 5 acres to 150 square-feet for properties larger than 10 acres." WTFWTFWTFWTF -0-Police become gardeners, become mathematicians, become legal examiners become useless against stopping honest violent crime.(what ever honest crime means)
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on March 03, 2016 at 18:04:09 PT
agree!
>>>I'm thinking more than 60% of eradication efforts are in California because that's their focus. If every government subsidized unionized helicopter cannabis prohibitionist were sent to the east coast, that's where 60% of eradications would be.that was my thought while reading the article also! What nonsenseÉjust validating whatever the govt. says. 
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on March 03, 2016 at 13:06:11 PT
OLD news at CNEWS
said Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie-Mellon drug policy expert...You see the hogwash Caulkins is trying to sell about 4 paragraphs from bottom?-0-"... A good barometer of this is the DEA's data on marijuana eradication, which indicates where law enforcement officers discover and destroy marijuana crops. In 2014, California accounted for more than 60 percent of all marijuana plants seized in the United States. Given those numbers, "it’s still too soon for production in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska to be a bigger story than California,"-0-I'm thinking more than 60% of eradication efforts are in California because that's their focus. If every government subsidized unionized helicopter cannabis prohibitionist were sent to the east coast, that's where 60% of eradications would be.An "expert" at washing hogs but I wouldn't let Him touch My hog.-0-There is no bigger story regarding cannabis than Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and WASHINGTON DC.-0-ALL this talk about Mexican drug cartels' profits & CORRUPTION diminishing when America cleanses itself from cannabis prohibition is OLD news at CNEWS.Finally, perhaps most important along with Mexican gang profits going down, THAT SHOULD ALSO LOWER ALL THE INNOCENT PEOPLE BEING KILLED due to the MADNESS.
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